CAP NO.131

with Richie McCaw who tops the alltime international list with 148 caps. Not that it’s occupying his mind. “That doesn’t really motivate me, getting higher and higher in that,” he said.

“It was a big thing for me getting to 100. Every player would cherish that.

“But now I’m just looking to every game and trying to enjoy that.

“I had a good start to the season and I’m enjoying it. I’ve played more games than I normally have at this time of the year and I’m looking forward to another big campaign.

“The game is so hard that you can’t look too far ahead.

“It’s been a tough eight weeks with the Blues, with some hard games.

“Now it’s on to Wales again and there’s an enjoyable feel around the place.”

With Rob Evans injured, Jenkins is odds on to be first choice loosehead during the autumn, while his excellent form may well have seen him starting anyway, as he did on the summer tour of New Zealand.

The opening autumn opponents are Australia, who the 35-year-old Beddau boy has enjoyed pretty limited success against over the years.

“I think I’ve beaten them once and drawn against them once,” he said.

“It’s not a great record and some of those losses have come in the last play of the game. That makes it even harder to swallow. We know they have got the upper hand in terms of the recent record between the two sides, but we’ve got a bit of belief in ourselves that we can win at home.

“I don’t think it’s a psychological thing. They are a good team. They are used to playing at high level of intensity and we have come up short in the past.

“I would like to think we have been there or thereabouts in most of the games we have played against them. We just haven’t got over that final hurdle of winning the game.

“It’s a tough schedule ahead for us with four games against four good sides in four weeks, but I am just looking forward to it.”

He may be the old man of the group, but age is certainly not wearying Gethin Jenkins when it comes to playing for Wales.